Change management
The project started with a needs analysis. Semi-structured interviews were held with elderly people in their own homes. They were asked questions about their daily routines and their social environment. We also took pictures of their favourite spot in the house and the objects that were important to them. This enabled us to make an extended profile of each of the participants based on the stories they told us. One such story came from an elderly woman who told us how she helped her grandson by allowing him to mow her lawn for money, so he could save up for something he really wanted. While it was clear that she really needed help with mowing the lawn, typically she managed to disguise this motivation by stressing how she was helping someone else at the same time. Receiving help is much harder than giving it.
In a workshop with a multi-disciplinary team from the client consortium, the profiles of the participants were presented and discussed. In a co-creation spirit, the information collected in the interviews was analysed and clustered into different types of emerging insights. These insights were then used to explore new service concepts. Three initial concepts were developed, with a description of the kind of person for whom this concept would apply, what problems it would solve and how the service would be delivered.
The concepts solved problems in three different areas: participation (a story telling service), support (a skills swap service) and care (a 'I woke up well' service). Each concept was presented by means of a visual collage and verbal scenario.
In a follow-up workshop, these concepts were presented to a group of potential users (elderly people, their carers, and also representatives of associations for elderly people). Together with the client team, they discussed the ideas and looked at the materials that had been drawn up to illustrate the new services. They were then interviewed individually to discover if, when, why and how they would potentially use each service. Finally, all workshop participants worked together in a co-creation exercise to refine the further details of the service concept.
As a result of this overall process, WSG decided to develop further one of the service concepts - the 'Verhalen Estafette' ('Story Relay'), aimed at growing the participation of elderly people in the local community. This service is built up around personal stories from people in the local area, facilitated by lectures, radio, social networking and online video. The service offers members the possibility of reacting to other people’s stories and of sharing their own stories, not only from the comfort of their homes, but also elsewhere. Below is a scenario we used to develop prototypes for the service.
Mr Jones sees an add in the newspaper about an upcoming lecture about the old gingerbread factory he used to work in and decides to go to it. During the lecture, old memories flood back to him. At the end of the lecture, the lecturer asks if people in the audience have stories they would like to share. Mr Jones tells one of his funny memories, which is recorded and shared online on the spot. He also gets some “promotional business cards” to invite people to come and listen to his story online.
At home, Mr Taylor sees on his screen that new stories are available. He chooses to listen to the story of Mr Jones, because he used to work at the Gingerbread factory too. The stories on the site bring back memories that he too would like to share, but since he has difficulties with walking he calls the WSG service. A few days later, somebody comes to interview him and to give him his “promotional business cards” to promote his own story and the service.
Mr Taylor, distributes the promotional cards to his friends and family, and also gives one to his neighbour Mrs Brown. Mrs Brown and her friend, Mrs Robinson listen together to Mr Taylor’s story. Mrs Robinson is so touched by Mr Taylor’s story that she sends a message that she would like to get in touch with him. Mr Jones agrees and he calls her. They have a nice little chat. Meanwhile, a WSG employee notices that Mr Jones’s story has been getting a lot of attention. She calls Mr Jones to ask him to give a lecture about his memories. He accepts and tells some of his favourite stories in front of an enthusiastic audience.
In the subsequent co-creation workshop with the client team, a full Service Blueprint was set up, mapping out how the various stakeholders would be involved and interact with each other. After further improving and refining this Service Blueprint, we developed a series of Experience Prototypes for the new service.
These Experience Prototypes were then presented and discussed in individual interviews in the homes of the people in the target group. Based on their feedback, new insights were incorporated and agreed in a final workshop to adjust the service concept. At the next stage, protoypes of the service are going to be built. These will be validated by the target group at home during a live test period.
As this process clearly illustrates, co-creation with the client (WSG) and the target group (elderly people) has been a constant feature of the whole process.
